About Last Night: Ball movement and perimeter shooting help Detroit Pistons end nightmarish losing streak

AP PhotoThe Wizards had no answer for Charlie Villanueva as the Detroit Pistons were able to snap a 13-game losing streak in Washington.When the final buzzer sounded Tuesday night, and the Detroit Pistons left the court victorious for the first time in a month, I couldn't help but think of Jacque Vaughn.

You see, during the 2001-02 season, Vaughn missed his first 21 field goals of the season. As far as I know, it's still an NBA record. When Vaughn finally made his first shot, in the fifth game of the season, the folks over at ESPN had a little fun at his expense, playing the highlights mashed to Beethoven's Ode to Joy while showing stock footage of various celebrations from around the world. It was actually all pretty amusing.

What's interesting is Vaughn went on to have the best year of his career, including career high numbers in shooting percentage, points, rebounds and assists.

It's certainly not the perfect analogy. The Pistons aren't going to go on to win the NBA championship, and it's still highly unlikely that they'll be making the playoffs, but for every valley there's another mountain to climb. Unless of course you're a New York Knicks fan.

Let's look at the notes:

Atypical statistical success: As you might imagine, the Pistons rank toward the bottom in several key statistical areas. One we've talked about at length is the lack of ball movement. The Pistons rank dead last, below even the 3-34 Nets, in assists.

Tonight, paced by point guard Rodney Stuckey matching a career-high with 11 dimes, the Pistons dished out 23 assists.

Of course, that stat was buoyed by players actually knocking down open jumpers, especially behind the arc. Detroit has struggled all season with three-point shooting. Coming into the night, the Pistons were shooting just 28.2 percent from long distance, but against the Wizards they connected on 10-16 three balls.

Finally some defense: After allowing each of their past three opponents to shoot better than 57 percent from the floor, the Pistons did an admirable job by holding the Wizards to 44.2 percent on Tuesday.

Detroit was particularly impressive in the second quarter, forcing Washington to miss 17 of 21 shots.

Hamilton was probably pressing: Richard Hamilton finished the night with 19 points and seven assists, but he spent much of the first quarter failing in his attempts to win the game single-handedly.

It's easy to understand why Hamilton, being the veteran member of the squad, wanted to put the team on his back, but he forced a lot of bad shots early, finishing the first quarter 3-11 from the floor.

As the game went on, Hamilton provided a crucial spark as a distributor, racking up most of his assists kicking out to open shooters from dribble penetration. The best leaders always get their teammates involved and Hamilton did this when it mattered most.

Nightly injury update: No Tayshaun Prince, no Will Bynum and even though he was active, no Ben Gordon. You get the feeling this team will never have a game where everyone is healthy.

Against the Wizards, Charlie Villanueva took an inadvertant shot to the face in the second quarter. He was forced to leave the game and didn't return to the court until the end of the third quarter.

It should be noted he wasn't wearing his protective mask before the incident, but was certainly sporting it when he came back from the hit. It didn't stop him from having a hot hand all night. Villanueva finished the night with 23 points on 9-13 shooting and added nine rebounds.

Highlight of the night: Ben Wallace set a screen for Richard Hamilton on the left baseline and as Wallace's defender, Brendan Haywood, opted to defend the ball, Hamilton lobbed up a pass up which forced Wallace to go way up for a one-handed alley oop. The two liked the play so much they tried it again the next trip down, but the pass was slightly errant and Wallace slammed the ball off the back of the rim.

Questionable rotation move: Yeah, the bench was short and the Pistons won the game, but I can't help but wonder if John Kuester stuck with his starters too long to start the second half.

The two most effective Pistons in the first half were Villanueva and Chucky Atkins off the bench, but Kuester didn't opt to make his first substitution in the second half until there was 1:05 left in the third quarter.

The starters actually blew the ten-point half time lead and let the Wizards tie the game late in the third.